Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr speaks during a news conference at the annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations in the city of Perth in southwestern Australia on November 14, 2012.

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Australia has joined the fray of the critiques of Israel’s recently-announced plan to build thousands more settler units in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, summoning the Israeli ambassador to Canberra over the matter.
"Australia has long opposed all settlement activity," Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr said in a statement on Tuesday.
The move was a reaction to the plan, approved on Friday, to construct 3,000 more settler units in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the West Bank. Israel announced the decision after the UN General Assembly upgraded Palestine’s status at the UN to observer non-member state on Thursday.
On Monday, Britain, France, Spain, Sweden, and Denmark also summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their capitals and slammed the regime's settlement projects.
Despite international condemnation of the act, sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel would “continue to stand up for its vital interests even in the face of international pressure.”
The UN considers the settlements to be illegal due to their construction on occupied territory.
AO/HN